Most of this material will eventually fall through the event horizon and disappear into the black hole. However some plasma gets caught up in powerful magnetic fields, forming two jets, perpendicular to the disk.

This black hole feeding frenzy allowed the authors to test an important theoretical property of stars and black holes called the Eddington Limit.

Depending of the mass of the black hole, the Eddington Limit is the point at which the amount of material falling onto the black hole is stopped by the pressure of the outward flow of radiation.

The researchers found MQ-1 is less than a hundred times the mass of the Sun.

The authors compared this mass to the total outward flow of radiation determined through infrared and radio luminosity, and discovered that it was higher than the Eddington limit.

"The findings mean far more energy can be emitted from a black hole over a sustained period of time than previously thought, resulting in far greater impact on the surrounding galaxy," says Soria.

"There are probably about half a dozen stellar black holes that are just as powerful as this one in the local universe. The problem was we didn't have any direct clues as to their mass."

The authors previously thought these black holes were small.

"Letting us determine its mass, allowed us do all the other research and now we can apply this model to other black holes that look the same," says Soria.

Changing the galaxy

"The findings mean the fast moving jets generated by the black hole are more powerful when they hit the surrounding stationary gas in the galaxy, creating a shock wave that heats and ionises the gas," says Soria.

"The jet also has pressure, so it forms an expanding bubble, sweeping the gas out of the way."

This can result in the surrounding gas being compressed, which could eventually spark "star burst", the birth of new stars.

However, it could also push gas out of the region, helping to empty a galaxy of its gas, and bringing new stellar birth to an end.

"We need to look at these opposite effects to see which one dominates," says Soria.